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David Cameron will start putting his new ministerial team in place after a cull of senior Tories and the shock departure of William Hague from the Foreign Office.

The Prime Minister is expected to promote a number of women and young rising stars to replace the male ministers axed in a brutal reshuffle which also saw the end of Ken Clarke’s lengthy ministerial career.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has been tipped to replace Mr Hague, who moves to become Leader of the Commons before standing down as an MP next year.

Patients should have probe powers

Patients who receive poor standards of nursing care while in hospital should be able to prompt an investigation into whether or not there are enough staff on their ward, new NHS guidance suggests.

Hospital patients in England who are given sub-standard care should be able to alert ward managers which should prompt a probe into whether or not there are a safe number of staff working on the ward, according to the National Institute for Health And Care Excellence (Nice).

Nice has identified a number of “red flags” which indicate that care could be compromised. When these are identified by a patient or a member of staff action should be taken immediately, it’s new advice to the NHS states.

Bid to curb emergency data laws

Emergency legislation on communications data should expire in months so it can be fully debated again before Christmas, a leading Labour opponent said.

The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill will be rushed through the House of Commons in an extended sitting today amid warnings the state is attempting to radically increase its powers.

Announced last week and backed by all three main parties, Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted the Bill is a narrow law aimed at reinforcing the status quo, drafted in response to a European Court ruling.

Obama backs Middle East truce plan

Egypt has won powerful backing from Barack Obama for its ceasefire plan to end the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

The US president told Muslim-Americans that he was hopeful the proposal could restore calm in the wake of a deadly wave of violence.

“We’re going to continue to do everything we can to facilitate a return to the 2012 ceasefire,” he said at a White House dinner celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. “We are encouraged that Egypt has made a proposal to accomplish that goal.”

Attempts to collect debts slammed

The Government has been strongly criticised by MPs for failing to collect billions of pounds in unpaid debts.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee accused ministers of failing to take a strategic approach to the issue after the National Audit Office calculated that, as of March last year, at least £22 billion was outstanding in overdue debt.

The majority - £15 billion - was owed to HM Revenue and Customs with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Justice accounting for most of the remainder.

Tulisa due in court

The prosecution is due to open its case today in the trial of former X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos who is accused of brokering a drug deal.

The former N-Dubz star, of Friern Barnet, north London, is charged with helping the Sun on Sunday’s undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood obtain 0.5oz (13.9g) of a Class A drug for £860.

It is claimed that Contostavlos, 26, told Mr Mahmood, dubbed the “fake sheikh”, that she could arrange for him to buy cocaine from her friend Michael Coombs, known as rapper Mike GLC.

Ruling due on soldier death inquiry

The High Court rules today on whether a mother of a British soldier killed by an armed mob in Iraq while on active service is legally entitled to a new independent inquiry into his death.

Corporal Paul Long, 24, and the other RMP officers had been sent to a police station in Majar-al-Kabir in south-east Iraq to meet local police they had been tasked to develop when the station was surrounded and attacked.

At a recent hearing, his mother, Patricia Long, stared at a photograph of her smiling son she was holding in her lap while judges in London were told how he died on June 24 2003 with five Royal Military Police colleagues.

Spaceport plans to be revealed

Details of Britain’s first spaceport are being announced today by ministers.

And Scotland is thought to be among the eight possible locations which will be revealed on the second day of the Farnborough air show in Hampshire.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said last weekend: “The UK space industry is one of our great success stories and I am sure there will be a role for Scotland to play in the future.”

Council benefits complaints rise

Complaints about English local councils’ handling of tax and benefits soared by more than a quarter last year, a standards watchdog said.

The Local Government Ombudsman said they went up by 26% and also reported a 16% rise in disputes over the provision of social care.

Almost half of cases in both areas (49% and 48%) were upheld, it reported, complaining that authorities too often failed to consider how vulnerable complainants might be.

Inflation to ease rate rise fears

Britain’s longest stretch of low inflation for nine years is expected to be confirmed when official figures are published today.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation is predicted to have edged up to 1.6% in June after a falling to a four-and-a-half year low of 1.5% in May.

But it should mean CPI has been at or below the Bank of England’s 2% target for seven months in a row.

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